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How Leviathan’s Theme Came Together

April 26th, 2014 by Tony Garsow

Leviathan is the newest Primal to awaken in Eorzea, and as of Patch 2.2, players can fight him both in the main storyline and an optional Extreme difficulty. At yesterday’s NicoNico Chokaigi event in Tokyo, composer Masayoshi Soken explained how the song we hear came together. Director Naoki Yoshida and scenario writer Kazutoyo Maehiro proposed the genre for a song, citing songs like Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” as an example of the type of music that would be appropriate for the battle.

Though the genre (rock) and the general style had been set, the song evolved over time. Originally, the Whorleater’s theme had female vocals — but only until the last few days before it had to be finalized. The team decided that female vocals didn’t fit the song as Leviathan is male, and with time running out before the deadline, Soken stepped in to provide the song with his own voice — heavily modulated of course! Soken has also lended his voice for “Under the Weight” or Titan’s theme, citing that he had to dash between his recording equipment and the recording room to make it work.

It’s not the first time a Final Fantasy composer has lent his or her voice to a song. Masashi Hamauzu, composer in Final Fantasy X and the Final Fantasy XIII series sings bass in “One-Winged Angel” from Final Fantasy VII with his wife Matsue as soprano.

You can hear a sample of the song in its earlier stages in the video above. Here’s hoping both prototype and final versions show up on a new soundtrack in the future!

Soken also took to the piano for an impromptu performance of Ul’dah’s theme and the FATE theme.

NicoNico Chokaigi continues tomorrow in Japan; Patch 2.2 “Through the Maelstrom” is currently live in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.

I really like the Primals’ themes so far, really interested to see what Soken comes up with for Ramuh and Shiva going forward.

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